


The Holes in the Surface

by Pey119



Series: STS [5]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Abuse, Complete, F/M, Ghost Nico di Angelo, Murder, Prequel, Series, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 18:18:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19234543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pey119/pseuds/Pey119
Summary: Scratching the Surface universe. Nico's first encounter with Hazel and Frank and their time together before the two others get too weak to show up.





	1. Chapter 1

Hazel opened her eyes to meet black eyes staring into her own. Eyes full of darkness, eyes full of sadness, eyes full of curiosity. As the boy stared at her, neither could look away. Those eyes... They were beautiful, even if they were broken. They were beautiful.

"Who are you, sir?" Hazel finally asked, noticing his pale skin but unaware of the noose mark around his neck. "Are you a friend of Master Newport?"

The boy above her gave her a small smile. "I'd never be caught dead as a friend of his." Why did he look like he made such a clever joke? "But I live here."

"You live here... I'm sorry, but I've never seen you before." Hazel sat up, her eyes widening when she felt...well, when she felt the difference. "What did you do to me? What happened...what happened to all those whip marks, and the bruises, and-"

"You don't feel them when you're dead." the boy replied. "You have no pain when you're dead. That's one of its only perks."

"Dead...?" Hazel looked down at where she was laying, shock freezing her in place when she sat her body staring up at her. Beaten features, lifeless eyes, bloody and bruised. "What...what..."

"You're dead." he kneeled beside her. "Sorry to say it, but it's the truth."

"I don't even remember..." Hazel stared down at her hands.

"It'll come back to you." he gently took her hand in his own. "It's going to be okay. You're not alone. And I think that's all anyone needs to know. You're not alone."

Hazel looked into his eyes again, felt herself relax in his presence. "Who are you?"

"Nico di Angelo." he introduced. "Want to come to the attic with me? Nobody's up there."

Hazel looked around her. "Frank...where is he?"

"I think he's still alive," Nico admitted. "Sorry."

Hazel looked down at her body, looked at the body of her lover beside her. "There he is... He's still alive? He...he doesn't look good..."

"He'll probably die soon." Nico kneeled beside Frank and looked him over. "He's as hurt as you were. That was quite a beating."

Hazel moved a hand to Frank's forehead, felt the heat that his body still held. "He's so warm..."

"All living people are going to feel that way from now on." Nico himself was gripping onto Frank's arm. "It's nice, isn't it? The warmness."

Hazel nodded. "Is...is being dead bad? I...I'm scared..."

"It's going to be okay," Nico promised. "Remember what I said? You're not alone. I'm here for you. We'll get through this together."

Hazel smiled. "Together."


	2. Chapter 2

Hazel sat next to Frank for some time before she felt the heat leave his body. Her hand was suddenly drenched in freezing air, his skin doing nothing to warm her up. As soon as this happened, she felt Nico touch her shoulder with a hint of pity. "He's dead."

"He's dead?" Hazel looked up at Nico. "Can we see him?"

"Soon," Nico promised. "It sometimes takes us awhile to wake up. You woke up ten minutes after you stopped breathing. It just depends."

Hazel kissed Frank's forehead, chilled from head to toe. "I'm here, Frank. I'm here. Don't be afraid."

"You love him?" Nico asked. "Truly love him?"

Hazel nodded. "Yeah, I do. Seems weird to hear from a girl that's so young, huh? Well... I can't help it. Love isn't a choice."

"You're right about that..." Nico thought back to Will Solace, thought back to that poor boy that had shown up too late. "Well, you're lucky. You'll be stuck here but you'll be with your love. No pain. Just you and him. You're really lucky."

Hazel looked to Nico to give him a smile of gratitude before looking back down at Frank. "So...so he's in no pain, even before he wakes up?"

Nico nodded. "As of right now, he doesn't feel a thing."

"Good." Hazel sat back but kept a grip on Frank's hand. "Nico... Can I ask you another question?"

"Go for it."

"Do you believe in Heaven?"

Nico glanced away. "I don't know. I really don't know, Hazel. I've seen people pass on. I've seen people leave this place. But if that was the case, then why are we still here? Things are complicated. I'm not sure of anything right now."

"You've...seen people leave? As in move on?" Hazel perked up. "You really have?"

Nico leaned his head on his hand. "Yep. My mom and my sister. They died in this house and their spirits aren't here. I think..." He looked up at the ceiling. "I think they're in Heaven. I used to think of this as Hell but if that was the case, you wouldn't be here."

"You wouldn't go to Hell." Hazel grabbed onto his hand with her free one. "You're a nice boy. You're not evil."

"You don't know me very well." Nico closed his eyes. "Wonder when they'll take your bodies."

"They won't care about mine." Hazel looked away. "But they'll take Frank's."

They sat in silence for some time before a new voice joined them, a voice full of curiosity. "Hazel?"


	3. Chapter 3

Frank could remember the pain, could remember feeling as if every breath would be his last. But as he laid there in the quiet of the darkness, he felt peace. Complete peace. He hadn't left anything behind, had no fears of where he was going. He just let himself relax in the warm darkness he currently was floating in.

Yet all things must pass, as they said. He found himself becoming more aware, found the darkness had started to disappear. As he started to worry about where he was and what had happened, he felt a hand on his forehead. A soft touch, a loving touch. A touch he knew all too well. "Hazel...?"

"Frank." he opened his eyes to Hazel's face above him. "Frank, thank God. Nico was right."

"Nico...?" Frank's eyes moved to the teenager sitting next to his girlfriend. Pale skin, dark eyes, a noose mark around his neck. "Hazel... Who is that?"

"Nico. It's okay, he's my new friend." Hazel pulled him so he was sitting up. "It's...it's all okay, now. We're okay."

"Are...are we...?"

Hazel nodded. "We...we died...but we're okay. Don't you feel it? No pain. Nothing like that. We're with each other and we're okay."

Nico watched the two lovers, frowning when he saw Frank already become transparent. He didn't know much about this stuff, didn't know much considering that he had only seen one ghost and that was himself. Could they vanish? Why would they?

"Nico was here when I woke up," Hazel told Frank. "He explained things to me. He's really nice."

Frank grabbed her hand. "You're sure you're okay?"

Hazel nodded. "I promise. No more pain..." She grinned. "Sad that I'm happy to be dead, huh? As long as I'm with you."

Nico sighed. "Yeah, yeah. You love each other. Whatever."

Hazel would have blushed if she was still alive. "Nico... You're just jealous that you don't have anyone."

"That's probably true." Nico let his legs slide through the floor, smirking at the looks on their faces. "Are you ready to come to the third floor with me or do you want to watch all these gross humans all the time?"

"Third floor it is." Hazel looked to Frank. "Are you okay?"

Frank nodded. "Finding it hard to...to just keep my hand in yours..." He looked to Nico. "Why do I feel like I'm going to disappear?"

Nico shrugged. "We'll find out. Just come with me."

"We'll... _we'll find out?_ " Hazel asked. "You're the ghost here."

"And now you are, too." Nico held his hands out to them. "Come on, let's go upstairs. I hate it down here."

Hazel sighed. "You're picky."

"So I've been told."


	4. Chapter 4

"So...this is where you died?" Hazel looked up at the wooden beams, her once dark face now transparent. "It's so lonely..."

"The only place that really had something to hang on." Nico sat beneath where they had found his body, able to still see the way it swung in the breeze. "Nobody comes up here. So you can stay up here if you want. You and Frank."

Hazel moved to the window and looked out at the sunny sky. "Can you open the window?"

"You won't be able to feel the breeze."

Hazel shrugged. "Can you open it anyway?"

Nico sighed in annoyance but moved to the window, opening it enough to send the summer air into the dusty attic. "There."

"Thank you." Hazel moved to hug him but stopped herself. "I'm...I'm going to go sit with Frank."

Nico smiled thinly. "You can hug me if you want, Hazel. I haven't had anyone to hug since I was a child, so I might not be any good at it. But I'm open to it."

Hazel hugged him, her thin fingers gripping onto the fabric of his shirt. "That's sad...that you're not used to hugs."

Nico wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on the top of her head. "Now I can be, with you here."

"Hazel..." Frank walked over to them, his large frame nearly invisible. "It's getting worse."

"Oh, God..." Hazel tore herself away from Nico to look Frank over, her eyes flashing with concern. "Nico... Help him."

"I can't." Nico looked out the window. "I'm sorry. I think...I think some of us just have more power. I have theories but I doubt they're right."

"Tell me them," Hazel demanded. "They could help me help Frank. So tell me them."

Nico eyed the scorching sun with disdain. How many slaves was it punishing with its harmful rays? "I think those who are left behind as ghosts still have some purpose here. I think that's why my mom and Bianca got to move on and I didn't. I had some purpose here, still, and they didn't."

"So...so Frank and I have some purpose..."

"I think Frank's only purpose is to stay with you until you go," Nico admitted. "That would explain why he's so much weaker than us. I don't know what my purpose is or yours, unfortunately."

"You just said downstairs that you have no idea about any of this," Hazel argued.

"I don't." Nico defended. "I told you that that's just a guess."

"It sounds real." Hazel sat with her back to the wall, Frank's watery form sitting next to her. "It sounds like it would be real."

Nico shrugged. "Who knows, Hazel. We can't really do anything about it either way."

Hazel's dark hair laid across Frank's chest as she rested her head on his shoulder. "I just want to move on already..."

"Don't we all?" Nico muttered.


	5. Chapter 5

It was about thirty minutes later when Hazel's head snapped up, her dark eyes full of discomfort. "Nico..."

"Yeah?" Nico looked to her. "What? What happened?"

She wrapped her arms around herself, her skinny frame even smaller than Nico's. "I feel...weird... I don't feel right."

"Uncomfortable? Like you should be somewhere else?" Nico guessed.

Hazel nodded. "What's that mean?"

Nico closed his eyes. He had his knees bent at the wooden beam, hanging from it with his arms crossed. "They moved your body."

"I feel it, too." Frank's voice was barely heard. "Where are they moving us?"

Nico shrugged. "I just know I got it when they moved my body away from where I died. It'll go away in a little bit."

"Promise?" Hazel asked. "I...I hate this..."

"I know, I did, too." Nico rubbed his neck. "I did, too. You'll get over it."

"How soon?" Hazel wondered. "Not too long...right?"

"Right." Nico opened his eyes to watch the two lovebirds. "Probably about ten minutes. Just relax and give it time."

Hazel looked to Frank. "I wonder where they're taking my body..."

"We're together," Frank assured her. "It doesn't matter where our bodies go. We're together."

Nico gagged. "Could you be any more cliche?"

Hazel giggled. "We could if you really want us to."

Nico shook his head. "No, thanks. I know it's because I'm the third wheel but it's disgusting."

Hazel rolled her eyes. "You act like you've never been in a room with a couple before."

Nico sighed, letting his arms fall limp, the two limbs hanging by his head. "I haven't. Not since before my mom died. My parents were the only couple I was ever around."

"Oh..." Hazel cleared her throat. "I'm sorry for saying that."

"It's fine..." Nico let himself disappear, let himself leave the attic. He liked Hazel, liked having her there. But after so many years of being alone, it was hard to get used to her and Frank, hard to get used to the fact that someone could see and hear him.

Hard to get over the fact that he had been hugged, that someone actually cared enough about him to hug him.

The last time he was hugged...it was Bianca that had hugged him. She had been his sister, that was her only reason. His mother had hugged him because he was her son, that was just what you did. But Hazel? She hugged him, a stranger. Hugged him because she actually cared about how he felt.

It was new, it was hard to get used to, but he accepted it. He found comfort in it.

Maybe he wouldn't be alone for eternity after all.


	6. Chapter 6

It was when the forest was dense and the sun was blocked out that Frank disappeared for good. One morning they woke up to him faded completely but could still feel his presence loitering about. Hazel laid with her eyes closed for days, bringing about a new depression to the empty house. It had been left for ruin, left with nobody to occupy it but the three ghosts.

The walls peeled, the shadows grew thicker. In the midst of depression and heartache, Hazel found herself in a sealed coffin. She couldn't go outside, couldn't leave the house. She couldn't do anything but pace the empty halls, wondering who exactly who come next. Would anybody? Or would they be alone forever?

She tried not to think about it, but there was nothing else to think about.

On the good days, she'd play marbles with Nico. The teenage boy had a fond interest for them, claiming that they kept him sane through childhood. Together, he helped her find enough strength to flick the marbles. They played for hours at a time, breaking things in the process. Even though objects were broken, she continued to flick them too hard. It was nice to finally be able to move something.

"Hey, Hazel..." Nico looked up from their tenth game of marbles, marking his tenth win on the wall, having to dig into the wood to make a new tally mark. "Do you ever miss your family?"

"All the time." Hazel began to gather the marbles. "Why?"

Nico sighed. "I don't know why...but I'm not. It doesn't hurt to think about them anymore."

Hazel's smile fell into the shadow of sadness. "That's...good?"

Nico shrugged. "I don't know. I mean...I'm not as sad. But I'm not happy, either. Just...just forget I said anything."

"No, it's okay." Hazel closed the bag after getting all the marbles inside it. "We can talk about it. I mean, we have nothing else to talk about."

Nico ran his hand through his hair. "I used to miss my mom and sister so bad it hurt. It hurt to think about them because they would bring back all the bad memories. But now...I can think about them without any pain, without missing them."

"They say time heals all wounds." Hazel made a face. "Though I doubt they meant to wait hundreds of years for your wounds to heal."

Nico chuckled softly. "No, I don't think they did."

Hazel let out a small laugh. "So, I think it's good. I think you moved past all that. You're closer to moving on."

"Yeah but what else is holding me here?" Nico questioned. "I let them go. I let mom and Bianca go."

"What about your father?" Hazel let her smile drop. "You...you killed him, Nico. That's not something you get over easily."

Nico's face darkened. "No, it isn't..."

Hazel gave him a quick hug before kissing his forehead. "You'll get over it someday, Nico. Just hang in there. Want to play another game of marbles?"

Nico hummed in agreement. "I guess so."


	7. Chapter 7

It was a cold and rainy day when Nico woke up to find himself alone, once again. He could feel Hazel there, could feel Frank there, but couldn't see or hear them. Even their connection became weaker with each passing hour.

He felt depression loom in once again, felt his heart become sore. Hazel had become like a sister to him. She helped him, made him feel loved, assured him that he wasn't alone. But now? She was gone. He was alone again, alone with nobody to tell him that everything was going to be okay.

He didn't speak to anyone for years. Too many years to count. Only when Percy and Annabeth moved in did he speak again, did he strike up a conversation with that blonde girl.

It was all he could do.


End file.
